Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension: A Mathematician’s Journey Through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, at Least Two Kinds of Infinity, and More by Matt Parker, ISBN-13: 978-0374535636
[PDF eBook eTextbook]
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Illustrated edition (November 24, 2015)
- Language: English
- 480 pages
- ISBN-10: 0374535639
- ISBN-13: 978-0374535636
A revolutionary book from the stand-up mathematician that makes math fun again!
Math is boring, says the mathematician and comedian Matt Parker. Part of the problem may be the way the subject is taught, but it’s also true that we all, to a greater or lesser extent, find math difficult and counterintuitive. This counterintuitiveness is actually part of the point, argues Parker: the extraordinary thing about math is that it allows us to access logic and ideas beyond what our brains can instinctively do―through its logical tools we are able to reach beyond our innate abilities and grasp more and more abstract concepts.
In the absorbing and exhilarating Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension, Parker sets out to convince his readers to revisit the very math that put them off the subject as fourteen-year-olds. Starting with the foundations of math familiar from school (numbers, geometry, and algebra), he takes us on a grand tour, from four dimensional shapes, knot theory, the mysteries of prime numbers, optimization algorithms, and the math behind barcodes and iPhone screens to the different kinds of infinity―and slightly beyond.
Both playful and sophisticated, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension is filled with captivating games and puzzles, a buffet of optional hands-on activities that entice us to take pleasure in mathematics at all levels. Parker invites us to relearn much of what baffled us in school and, this time, to be utterly enthralled by it.
Table of Contents:
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Contents
0 The Zeroth Chapter
1 Can You Digit?
2 Making Shapes
3 Be There and be Square
4 Shape Shifting
5 Shapes: Now in 3D
6 Pack It Up, Pack It In
7 Prime Time
8 Knot a Problem
9 Just for Graphs
10 The Fourth Dimension
11 The Algorithm Method
12 How to Build a Computer
13 Number Mash-ups
14 Ridiculous Shapes
15 Higher Dimensions
16 Good Data Die Hard
17 Ridiculous Numbers
18 To Infinity and Beyond
n+1 The Subsequent Chapter
Notes
The Answers at the Back of the Book
Acknowledgements
Text and Image Credits
A Note About the Author
Copyright
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